THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2007  with  funding  from     " 
IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/calloftwentiethcOOjordrich 


THE    CALL 

OF   THE 

TWENTIETH    CENTURY 


HE  CALL  of  the 
TWENTIETH 
CENTURY 

AN  ADDRESS    TO 
YOUNG      MEN 

Bv  DAVID   STARR  JORDAN 

President  of  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University 


&^^;25^ 


BOSTON  •    AMERICAN   UNITARIAN 
ASSOCIATION.^   ^   ^   ^   ^   Ji   ^ 


\  iJa  li  /xUi  hM 


Copyright  1903 
American  Unitarian  AssociAxioif 


TO 


VERNON   LYMAN    KELLOGG 


iv^349^50 


So 

ti'ue  that 

your  afterself— 

ihe  man  yoa  ought 

to  be — may  in  his  time 

he  possible  and  actual  *  Far 

atvayinthe  twenties,  the  thirties 

of  the  Twentieth  Century,  he  is  a^wait- 

ing  his  turn*     His  body,  his  brain,  his 

soul  are  in  your  boyish  hands*     He  cannot 

help  himself*     What  <will  you  lea've  for  him? 

Will  it  be  a  brain  unspoiled  by  lust  or  dissipation, 

a  mind  trained  to  think  and  act,  a  nervous  system 

true  as  a  dial  in  its  response  to  the  truth  about  you  ?     Will 

you,  boy  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  let  him  come  as  a 

man  among  men  in  his  time,  or  <will  you  thro<w 

a'way   his  inheritance  before  he  has    had  the 

chance  to  touch  it  ?     Will  you  let  him  come, 

taking  your  place,  gaining  through  your 

experiences,  halloaed  through  your 

joys,  building  on  them  his  o^n,  * 

or  m)ill  you  fling  his  hope 

a'way,  decreeing, <wanton- 

like,  that  the  man  you 

might  ha've  been 

shall  never 

be? 


THE  new  century  has  come  upon 
us  with  a  rush  of  energy  that 
no  century  has  shown  before* 
Let  us  stand  aside  for  a  moment  that 
we  may  see  what  kind  of  a  century  it 
is  to  be,  what  is  the  work  it  has  to  do, 
and  what  manner  of  men  it  will  de- 
mand to  do  it* 

€L  In  most  regards  one  century  is  like 
another.  Just  as  men  are  men,  so  times 
are  times*  In  the  Twentieth  Century 
there  will  be  the  same  joys,  the  same 
sorrows,  the  same  marrying  and  giving 
in  marriage,  the  same  round  of  work 
and  play,  of  wisdom  and  duty,  of  folly 
and  distress  which  other  centuries  have 
seen*  Just  as  each  individual  man  has 
the  same  organs,  the  same  passions, 
the  same  functions  as  all  others,  so  it  is 
with  all  the  centuries*  But  we  know 
men  not  by  their  likenesses,  which  are 
many,  but  by  differences  in  emphasis. 


The 

Twentieth 

Century 


The 
Things 
which 
Endure 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


by  individual  traits  which  are  slight 
and  subtle^  but  all-important  in  deter- 
mining our  likes  and  dislikes,  our  friend- 
ships, loves,  and  hates*  So  with  the 
centuries;  we  remember  those  which 
are  past  not  by  the  mass  of  common 
traits  in  history  and  development,  but 
by  the  few  events  or  thoughts  unno- 
ticed at  the  time,  but  which  stand  out 
like  mountain  peaks  raised  ^*  above  ob- 
livion^s  sea,^^  when  the  times  are  all 
gathered  in  and  the  century  begins  to 
blend  with  the  ^Mnfinite  azure  of  the 
past/^  Not  wars  and  conquests  mark 
a  century*  The  hosts  grow  small  in 
the  vanishing  perspective,  **  the  captains 
and  the  kings  depart,^^  but  the  thoughts 
of  men,  their  attitude  toward  their  en- 
vironment, their  struggles  toward  duty, 
— these  are  the  things  which  endure* 
^  Compared  with  the  centuries  that 
are  past,  the  Twentieth  Century  in  its 
broad  outlines  will  be  like  the  rest*  It 
will  be  selfish,  generous,  careless,  de- 
voted, fatuous,  efficient*    But  three  of 


Three  Dis- 
tinguishing 
Traits 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


The 

Strenuous 
Life 


its  traits  must  stand  out  above  all  others, 
each  raised  to  a  higher  degree  than  any- 
other  century  has  known.  The  Twen- 
tieth Century  above  all  others  will  be 
strenuouSf  complext  and  democratic. 
C  Strenuous  the  century  must  be,  of 
course.  This  we  can  all  see,  and  we 
have  to  thank  the  young  man  of  the 
Twentieth  Century  who  gave  us  the 
watchword  of  **  the  strenuous  life/'  and 
who  has  raised  the  apt  phrase  to  the 
dignity  of  a  national  purpose.  Our 
century  has  a  host  of  things  to  do,  bold 
things,  noble  things,  tedious  things,  diffi- 
cult things,  enduring  things.  It  has  only 
a  hundred  years  to  do  them  in,  and  two 
of  these  years  are  gone  already.  We 
must  be  up  and  bestir  ourselves.  If  we 
are  called  to  help  in  this  work,  there  is 
no  time  for  an  idle  minute.  Idle  men 
and  idle  women  no  doubt  will  cumber 
our  way,  for  there  are  many  who  have 
never  heard  of  the  work  to  do,  many 
who  will  never  know  that  there  has 
been  a  new  century.     These  the  century 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


will  pass  by  with  the  gentle  tolerance 
she  shows  to  clams  and  squirrels,  but 
on  those  of  us  she  calls  to  her  service 
she  will  lay  heavy  burdens  of  duty» 
**  The  color  of  life  is  red/^  Already  the 
fad  of  the  drooping  spirit,  the  end-of- 
the-century  pose,  has  given  way  to  the 
rush  of  the  strenuous  life,  to  the  feeling 
that  struggle  brings  its  own  rewards 
The  men  who  are  doing  ask  no  favor 
at  the  end»  Life  is  repaid  by  the  joy  of 
living  it* 

<!.  As  the  century  is  strenuous  so  will 
it  be  complex.  The  applications  of  sci- 
ence have  made  the  great  world  small, 
while  every  part  of  it  has  grown  insist- 
ent. As  the  earth  has  shrunk  to  come 
within  our  grasp,  so  has  our  own  world 
expanded  to  receive  it.  ^^  My  mind  to 
me  a  kingdom  is,^^  and  to  this  kingdom 
all  the  other  kingdoms  of  the  earth  now 
send  their  embassadors.  The  complex- 
ity of  life  is  shown  by  the  extension  of 
the  necessity  of  choice.  Each  of  us 
has  to  render  a  decision,  to  say  yes  or 


The 
Complexity 
of  Modern 
Life 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


no  a  hundred  times  when  our  grand- 
fathers were  called  upon  a  single  time. 
We  must  say  yes  or  no  to  our  neigh- 
bors^ theories  or  plans  or  desires,  and 
whoever  has  lived  or  lives  or  may  yet 
live  in  any  land  or  on  any  island  of  the 
sea  has  become  our  neighbor.  Through 
modern  civilization  we  are  coming  into 
our  inheritance,  and  this  heirloom  in- 
cludes the  best  that  any  man  has  done 
or  thought  since  history  and  literature 
and  art  began.  It  includes,  too,  all  the 
arts  and  inventions  by  which  any  men 
of  any  time  have  separated  truth  from 
error.  Of  one  blood  are  all  the  people 
of  the  earth,  and  whatsoever  is  done  to 
the  least  of  these  little  ones  in  some  de- 
gree comes  to  me.  We  suffer  from  the 
miasma  of  the  Indian  jungles;  we  starve 
with  the  savages  of  the  harvestless 
islands ;  we  grow  weak  with  the  abused 
peasants  of  the  Russian  steppes,  who 
leave  us  the  legacy  of  their  grippe. 
The  great  volcano  which  buries  far  off 
cities  at   its  foot  casts  its  pitying  dust 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


The 

Passing  of 
Simplicity 


over  us.  It  is  said  that  through  the 
bonds  of  commerce,  common  trade,  and 
common  need,  there  is  growing  up  the 
fund  of  a  great  **  bank  of  human  kind- 
ness,^' no  genuine  draft  on  which  is  ever 
left  dishonored^  Whoever  is  in  need  of 
help  the  world  over,  by  that  token  has  a 
claim  on  us* 

€L  In  our  material  life  we  draw  our  re- 
sources from  every  land*  Clothing, 
spices,  fruits,  toys,  household  furniture, 
—  we  lay  contributions  on  the  whole 
world  for  the  most  frugal  meal,  for  the 
humblest  dwelling*  We  need  the  best 
work  of  every  nation  and  every  nation 
asks  our  best  of  us*  The  day  of  home- 
brewed ale,  of  home-made  bread,  and 
home-spun  clothing  is  already  past  with 
us*  Better  than  we  can  do,  our  neigh- 
bors send  us,  and  we  must  send  our 
own  best  in  return*  With  home-made 
garments  also  pass  away  inherited  pol- 
itics and  hereditary  religion,  with  all  the 
support  of  caste  and  with  all  its  barriers* 
We  must  work  all  this  out  for  ourselves ; 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


wc  must  make  our  own  place  in  society ; 
we  must  frame  our  own  creeds;  we 
must  live  our  own  religion;  for  no 
longer  can  one  man^s  religion  be  taken 
unquestionably  by  any  other*  As  the 
world  has  been  unified,  so  is  the  individ- 
ual unit  exalted*  With  all  this,  the 
simplicity  of  life  is  passing  away*  Our 
front  doors  are  wide  open  as  the  trains 
go  by*  The  caravan  traverses  our 
front  yard*  We  speak  to  millions,  mil- 
lions speak  to  us ;  and  we  must  cultivate 
the  social  tact,  the  gentleness,  the  adroit- 
ness, the  firmness  necessary  to  carry  out 
our  own  designs  without  thwarting 
those  of  others*  Time  no  longer  flows 
on  evenly.  We  must  count  our  mo- 
ments, so  much  for  ourselves,  so  much 
for  the  world  we  serve  and  which  serves 
us  in  return*  We  must  be  swift  and  ac- 
curate in  the  part  we  play  in  a  drama  so 
mighty,  so  strenuous,  and  so  complex* 
CLMore  than  any  of  the  others,  the  Democratic 
Twentieth  Century  will  be  democratic.  ^^^^^^ 
The  greatest  discovery  of  the  Nineteenth 


8 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Concerning 
Royalty 


Century  was  that  of  the  reality  of  exter- 
nal things*  That  of  the  Twentieth 
Century  will  be  this  axiom  in  so- 
cial geometry:  '^A  straight  line  is  the 
shortest  distance  between  two  points/' 
K  something  needs  doing,  do  it;  the 
more  plainly,  directly,  honestly,  the 
better* 

€L  The  earlier  centuries  cared  little  for 
the  life  of  a  man*  Hence  they  failed  to 
discriminate*  In  masses  and  mobs  they 
needed  kings  and  rulers  but  could  not 
choose  them.  Hence  the  device  of  se- 
lecting as  ruler  the  elder  son  of  the  last 
ruler,  whatever  his  nature  might  be* 
A  child,  a  lunatic,  a  monster,  a  sage,  — 
it  was  all  the  same  to  these  unheeding 
centuries*  The  people  could  not  follow 
those  they  understood  or  who  under- 
stood them*  They  must  trust  all  to 
the  blind  chance  of  heredity*  Tyrant 
or  figurehead,  the  mob,  which  from  its 
own  indifference  creates  the  pomp  of 
royalty,  threw  up  its  caps  for  the  king, 
and  blindly  died  for  him  in  his  courage 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


or  in  his  folly  with  the  same  unques- 
tioning loyalty^  In  like  manner  did  the 
mob  fashion  lords  and  princes,  each  in 
its  own  image^  Not  the  man  who 
would  do  or  think  or  help,  but  the  eld- 
est son  of  a  former  lord  was  chosen  for 
its  homage*  The  result  of  it  all  was 
that  no  use  was  made  of  the  forces  of 
nature,  for  those  who  might  have 
learned  to  control  them  were  hunted  to 
their  death*  The  men  who  could  think 
and  act  for  themselves  were  in  no  posi- 
tion to  give  their  actions  leverage. 
CLWhen  a  people  really  means  to  do 
something,  it  must  resort  to  democracy* 
It  must  value  men  as  men,  not  as  func- 
tions of  a  chain  of  conventionalities* 
''America,^^  says  Emerson,  '^  means 
opportunity ;  '^  opportunity  for  work,  op- 
portunity for  training,  opportunity  for 
influence*  Democracy  exalts  the  in- 
dividual* It  realizes  that  of  all  the 
treasures  of  the  nation,  the  talent  of  its 
individual  men  is  the  most  important* 
It  realizes  that  its  first  duty  is  to  waste 


The 
Meaning  of 
Democracy 


JO  THE  CALL  OF  THE 

none  of  this.  It  cannot  afford  to  leave 
its  Miltons  mute  and  inglorious  nor  to 
let  its  village  Hampdens  waste  their 
strength  on  petty  obstacles  while  it  has 
great  tasks  for  them  to  accomplish.  In 
a  democracy,  when  work  is  to  be  done 
men  rise  to  do  it.  No  matter  what  the 
origin  of  our  Washingtons  and  Lin- 
colns,  our  Grants  and  our  Shermans, 
our  Clevelands  or  our  Roosevelts,  our 
Eliots,  our  Hadleys,  or  our  Remsens, 
we  know  that  they  are  being  made 
ready  for  every  crisis  which  may  need 
their  hand,  for  every  work  we  would 
have  them  carry  through.  To  give 
each  man  the  training  he  deserves  is 
to  bring  the  right  man  face  to  face  with 
his  own  opportunity.  The  straight 
line  is  the  shortest  distance  between 
two  points  in  life  as  in  geometry.  For 
the  work  of  a  nation  we  may  not  call 
on  Lord  This  or  Earl  That,  whose  an- 
cestors have  Iain  on  velvet  for  a  thou- 
sand years ;  we  want  the  man  who  can 
do  the  work,  who  can  face  the  dragon, 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


n 


The 

Method  of 
Achieve- 
ment 


or  carry  the  message  to  Garcia.  A 
man  whose  nerves  are  not  relaxed  by 
centuries  of  luxury  will  serve  us  best» 
Give  him  a  fair  chance  to  try ;  give,  us 
a  fair  chance  to  try  him.  This  is  the 
meaning  of  democracy;  not  fuss  and 
feathers,  pomp  and  gold  lace,  but  ac- 
complishment. 

CL  Democracy  does  not  mean  equality 
— just  the  reverse  of  this,  it  means  in- 
dividual responsibility,  equality  before 
the  law,  of  course  —  equality  of  oppor- 
tunity, but  no  other  equality  save  that 
won  by  faithful  service.  That  social 
system  which  bids  men  rise  must  also 
let  them  fall  if  they  cannot  maintain 
themselves.  To  choose  the  right  man 
means  the  dismissal  of  the  wrong. 
The  weak,  the  incompetent,  the  un- 
trained, the  dissipated  find  no  growing 
welcome  in  the  century  which  is  com- 
ing. It  will  have  no  place  for  unskilled 
laborers.  A  bucket  of  water  and  a 
basket  of  coal  will  do  all  that  the  un- 
skilled laborer  can  do  if  we  have  skilled 


12 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


men  to  direct  them.  The  unskilled 
laborer  is  no  product  of  democracy.  He 
exists  in  spite  of  democracy.  The 
children  of  the  republic  are  entitled  to 
something  better.  A  generous  edu- 
cation, a  well-directed  education,  should 
be  the  birthright  of  each  one  of  them. 
Democracy  may  even  intensify  natural 
inequalities.  The  man  who  cannot  say 
no  to  cheap  and  vulgar  temptations  falls 
all  the  lower  in  the  degree  to  which 
he  is  a  free  agent.  In  competition  with 
men  alert,  loyal,  trained  and  creative, 
the  dullard  is  condemned  to  a  lifetime 
of  hard  labor,  through  no  direct  fault 
of  his  own.  Keep  the  capable  man 
down  and  you  may  level  the  incapable 
one  up.  But  this  the  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury will  not  do.  This  democracy  will 
not  do ;  this  it  is  not  now  doing,  and 
this  it  never  will  attempt.  The  social 
condition  which  would  give  all  men 
equal  reward,  equal  enjoyment,  equal 
responsibility,  may  be  a  condition  to 
dream  of.    It  may  be  Utopia;  it  is  not 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


13 


democracy.  Sir  Henry  Maine  de- 
scribes the  process  of  civilization  as  the 
*^  movement  from  status  to  contract/^ 
This  is  the  movement  from  mass  to 
man,  from  subservience  to  individual- 
ism, from  tradition  to  democracy,  from 
pomp  and  circumstance  of  non-essen- 
tials to  the  method  of  achievement* 
^  Owen  Wister  in  ^^  The  Virginian  ^*  True 
says :  ''  All  America  is  divided  into  two  Aristocracy 
classes,  —  the  quality  and  the  equality* 
The  latter  will  always  recognize  the 
former  when  mistaken  for  it*  Both 
will  be  with  us  until  our  women  bear 
nothing  but  kings.  It  was  through  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  that  we 
Americans  acknowledged  the  eternal 
inequality  of  man*  For  by  it  we  abol- 
ished a  cut-and-dried  aristocracy*  We 
had  seen  little  men  artificially  held  up 
in  high  places,  and  great  men  artifi- 
cially held  down  in  low  places,  and  our 
own  justice-loving  hearts  abhorred  this 
violence  to  human  nature*  Therefore 
we    decreed   that    every   man    should, 


J4 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


thenceforth  have  equal  liberty  to  find 
his  own  level  By  this  very  decree  we 
acknowledged  and  gave  freedom  to  true 
aristocracy,  saying,  ^  Let  the  best  man 
win,  whoever  he  is/  Let  the  best  man 
win !  That  is  Americans  word*  That 
is  true  democracy.  And  true  democ- 
racy and  true  aristocracy  are  one  and 
the  same  thing.  If  anybody  cannot  see 
this,  so  much  the  worse  for  his  eye- 
sight.'' 

CL  Pducis  vivat  hamanam  genus: 
*^for  the  few  the  race  should  live,''  — 
this  is  the  discarded  motto  of  another 
age.  The  few  live  for  the  many. 
The  clean  and  strong  enrich  the  life  of 
all  with  their  wisdom,  with  their  con- 
quests. It  is  to  bring  about  the  larger 
equalities  of  opportunity,  or  purpose, 
that  we  exalt  the  talents  of  the  few. 
€L  This  has  not  always  been  clear,  even 
in  the  history  of  the  Republic.  My 
own  great  grandfather,  John  Elderkin 
Waldo,  said  at  Tolland,  Connecticut, 
more  than  a  century  ago :  **  Times  are 


The 

Talents  of 
the  Few 


An  Early 
View 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  15 

hard  with  us  in  New  England*  They 
will  never  be  any  better  until  each  farm 
laborer  in  Connecticut  is  willing  to  work 
all  day  for  a  sheep's  head  and  pluck/' 
just  as  they  used  to  do  before  the  red 
schoolhouses  on  the  hills  began  to 
preach  their  doctrines  of  sedition  and 
equality.  There  could  never  be  good 
times  again,  so  he  thought,  till  the  many 
again  lived  for  the  few* 

C»  It  is  in  the  saving  of  the  few  who  The 
serve  the  many  that  the  progress  of  civ-  ^'"®  °* 
ilization  lies.  In  the  march  of  the  com- 
mon man,  and  in  the  influence  of  the 
•man  uncommon  who  rises  freely  from 
the  ranks,  we  have  all  of  history  that 
counts. 

C  In  a  picture  gallery  at  Brussels  there  some 
is  a  painting  by  Wiertz,  most  cynical  ^"^^^^^ 
of  artists,  representing  the  man  of  the 
Future  and  the  things  of  the  Past.  A 
naturalist  holds  in  his  right  hand 
a  magnifying  glass,  and  in  the  other  a 
handful  of  Napoleon  and  his  marshals, 
guns,   and    battle-flags,  —  tiny    objects 


16 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


and  their 
Signifi- 
cance 


A 

Discarded 
Motto 


swelling  with  meaningless  glory^  He 
examines  these  intensely,  while  a  child  at 
his  side  looks  on  in  open-eyed  wonder* 
She  cannot  understand  what  a  grown 
man  can  find  in  these  curious  trifles 
that  he  should  take  the  trouble  to  study 
them. 

€t  This  painting  is  a  parable  designed  to 
show  NapoIeon^s  real  place  in  history. 
It  was  painted  within  a  dozen  miles 
of  the  field  of  Waterloo,  and  not  many 
years  after  the  noise  of  its  cannon  had 
died  away.  It  shows  the  point  of  view 
of  the  man  of  the  future.  Save  in 
the  degradation  of  France,  through  the 
impoverishment  of  its  life-blood,  there 
is  little  in  human  civilization  to  recall 
the  disastrous  incident  of  Napoleon^s 
existence. 

€L  Pducis  vivdt  humanum  genus :  **  the 
many  live  for  the  few.^^  This  shall 
be  true  no  longer.  The  earth  belongs 
to  him  who  can  use  it,  and  the  only 
force  which  lasts  is  that  which  is  used 
to  make  men  free. 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


J7 


H  ''Triumphant  America/^  says 
George  Horace  Lorimer,  ''certainly  does 
not  mean  each  and  every  one  of  our 
seventy-eight  millions.  For  instance,  it 
does  not  include  the  admitted  idiots  and 
lunatics,  the  registered  paupers  and 
parasites,  the  caged  criminals,  the  six 
million  illiterates.  In  a  sense,  it  includes 
the  twenty-five  to  thirty  million  children, 
for 'they  exert  a  tremendous  influence 
upon  the  grown  people.  But  in  no 
sense  does  it  include  the  whittlers  on 
dry-goods  boxes,  the  bar-room  loafers, 
the  fellows  that  listen  all  day  long  for 
the  whistle  to  blow,  those  who  are  the 
first  to  be  mentioned  whenever  there  is 
talk  of  cutting  down  the  force.  It  does 
not  include  those  of  our  statesmen  who 
spend  their  time  in  promoting  corrupt 
jobs,  or  in  hunting  places  for  lazy  heel- 
ers. It  does  not  include  the  doctors  who 
reach  their  high-water  mark  for  profes- 
sional knowledge  on  the  day  they  grad- 
uate, or  the  lawyers  who  lie  and  cheat 
and  procure  injustice  for  the  sake  of  fees. 


Retarders 

of 

Progress 


J8 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


The 

Power  of  a 
Bad 
Example 


The 

Common 

Ground 


The  Work 
of  the 
Century 


4Q[  **  Most  of  these  —  even  the  idiots  and 
criminals  —  do  a  little  something  tow- 
ards progress^  This  world  is  so  hap- 
pily ordered  that  it  is  impossible  for  one 
man  to  do  much  harm  or  to  avoid  doing 
some  good;  and  one  of  the  greatest 
forces  for  good  is  the  power  of  a  bad 
example^  Still  it  is  not  our  bad  exam- 
ples that  make  us  get  on  and  earn  us 
these  smothers  of  flowery  compliment* 
fL  **  Some  of  us  are  tall  and  others  shorty 
some  straight  and  others  crooked,  some 
strong,  others  feeble ;  some  of  us  run, 
others  walk,  others  snail  it*  But  all, 
all  have  their  feet  upon  the  same  level 
of  the  common  earth*  And  Americans 
worst  enemy  is  he  —  or  she — who  by 
word  or  look  encourages  another  to 
think  otherwise*  Head  as  high  as  you 
please ;  but  feet  always  upon  the  common 
ground,  never  upon  anybody's  shoul- 
ders or  neck,  even  though  he  be  weak 
or  willing*^' 

<D[  So  in  this  strenuous  and  complex 
age,  this  age  of  ^^  fierce  democracy,'' 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


19 


what  have  we  to  do,  and  with  what 
manner  of  men  shall  we  work  ?  Young 
men  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  will  your 
times  find  place  for  you?  There  is 
plenty  to  do  in  every  direction^  That 
is  plain  enough*  All  the  pages  in  this 
little  book,  or  in  a  very  large  one,  would 
be  filled  by  a  mere  enumeration^  In 
agriculture  a  whole  great  empire  is  yet  to 
be  won  in  the  arid  west,  and  the  west 
that  is  not  arid  and  the  east  that  was 
never  so  must  be  turned  into  one  vast 
market-garden*  The  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury will  treat  a  farm  as  a  friend,  and  it 
will  yield  rich  returns  for  such  friend- 
ship* In  the  Twentieth  Century  vast  re- 
gions will  be  fitted  to  civilization,  not 
by  imperialism,  which  blasts,  but  by 
permeation,  which  reclaims* 

€L  The  table-lands  of  Mexico,  the  plains  Agriculture 
of  Manchuria,  the  Pampas  of  Argentine, 
the  moors  of  Northern  Japan,  all  these 
regions  in  our  own  temperate  zone  offer 
a  welcome  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  farmer* 
The  great  tropics  are  less  hopeful,  but 


20 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Forestry 


they  have  never  had  a  fair  trial*  The 
northern  nations  have  tried  to  exploit 
them  in  haste,  and  then  to  get  away, 
never  to  stay  with  them  and  work  pa- 
tiently to  find  out  their  best.  Some  day 
the  possibilities  of  the  Torrid  Zone  may 
come  to  us  as  a  great  discovery. 
<L  There  is  need  of  men  in  forestry ;  for 
we  must  win  back  the  trees  we  have 
slain  with  such  ruthless  hand.  The 
lumberman  of  the  future  will  pick  ripe 
trees  and  save  the  rest  as  carefully  as 
the  herdsman  selects  his  stock.  In  en- 
gineering, in  mining,  in  invention,  there 
are  endless  possibilities.  Every  man 
who  masters  what  is  already  known  in 
any  one  branch  of  applied  science,  makes 
his  own  fortune.  He  who  can  add  a 
little,  save  a  little,  do  something  better  or 
something  cheaper,  makes  the  fortune  of 
a  hundred  others.  *^  There  is  always 
room  for  a  man  of  force,  and  he  makes 
room  for  many.^^ 

fL  Andrew  Carnegie  once  said  that  the 
foundation  of   his  fortune  lay  in  the 


Expert 
Training 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


21 


Engineer- 
ing 


employment  of  trained  chemists^  while 
other  men  made  steel  by  rule  df  thumb* 
Trained  chemists  made  better  steel,  fust 
a  little*  They  devised  ways  to  make 
it  cheaper,  just  a  little,  and  they  found 
means  to  utilize  the  slag*  All  this 
means  hundreds  of  millions  of  doflars,  if 
done  on  a  large  enough  scale* 
€L  There  is  no  limit  to  the  demands  of 
engineering*  A  million  waterfalls  dash 
down  the  slopes  of  the  Sierras*  The 
patient  sun  has  hauled  the  water  up 
from  the  sea  and  spread  it  in  snow  over 
the  mountains*  The  same  sun  will 
melt  the  snow,  and  as  the  water  falls 
back  to  the  sea  it  will  yield  again  the 
force  it  cost  to  bring  it  to  its  heights* 
Thus  sunshine  and  falling  water  can  be 
transmuted  into  power*  This  power 
already  lights  the  cities  of  California, 
and  some  day  it  may  be  changed  into 
the  heat  which  moves  a  thousand  facto- 
ries* All  these  are  the  problems  of  the 
Electrical  Engineer*  Equally  rich  are 
the  opportunities  in  other  forms  of  en- 


22 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Commerce 


ginecring*  There  is  no  need  to  be  in 
haste,  perhaps,  but  the  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury is  eager  in  its  quest  for  gold^  The 
mother  lode  runs  along  the  foothills 
from  Bering  Straits  to  Cape  Hom» 
From  end  to  end  of  the  continent  the 
Twentieth  Century  will  bring  this  gold 
to  light,  and  carry  it  all  away*  The 
Mining  Engineer  who  knows  the  moun- 
tains best  finds  his  fortune  ready  to  his 
hand.  Civil  Engineers,  Steam  Engi- 
neers, Naval  Engineers,  whoever  knows 
how  to  manage  things  or  men,  even 
Social  Engineers,  Labor  Engineers,  all 
find  an  eager  welcome.  There  are 
never  too  many  of  those  who  know 
how ;  but  the  day  of  the  rule  of  thumb 
has  long  since  past.  The  Engineer  of 
to-day  must  create,  not  imitate.  And  to 
him  who  can  create,  this  last  century 
we  call  the  Twentieth  is  yet  part  of  the 
first  day  of  Creation. 
€L  In  commerce  the  field  is  always 
open  for  young  men.  The  world^s 
trade  is  barely  yet  begun.     We  hear 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  23 

people  whining  over  the  spread  of  the 
commercial  spirit,  but  what  they  mean 
is  not  the  spirit  of  commerce^  It  is  per- 
sistence of  provincial  selfishness,  a  spirit 
which  has  been  with  us  since  the  fall  of 
Adam,  and  which  the  centuries  of  whit- 
ening sails  has  as  yet  not  eradicated. 
The  spirit  of  fair  commerce  is  a  noble 
spirit.  Through  commerce  the  world 
is  unified.  Through  commerce  grows 
tolerance,  and  through  tolerance,  peace 
and  solidarity.  Commerce  is  world- 
wide barter,  each  nation  giving  what  it 
can  best  produce  for  what  is  best  among 
others.  Freedom  breeds  commerce  as 
commerce  demands  freedom.  Only  free 
men  can  buy  and  sell ;  for  without  sell- 
ing no  man  nor  nation  has  means  to 
buy.  When  China  is  a  nation,  her 
people  will  be  no  longer  a  ^^  yellow 
peril.'^  It  is  poverty,  slavery,  misery, 
which  makes  men  dangerous.  In  the 
words  of  ^*  Joss  Chinchingoss,^^  the  Kip- 
ling of  Singapore,  we  have  only  to  give 
the  Chinaman 


.  24 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


**  The  chance  at  home  that  he  makes  for  him- 
self elsewhere^ 
And  the  star  of  the  Jelly-fish  nation  mid 
others  shall  shine  as  f  air*^ 


The 

March  of 
Commerce 


d.  Since  the  day^  twenty-three  years 
ago,  on  which  I  first  passed  through 
the  Golden  Gate  of  California,  I  have 
seen  the  steady  increase  of  the  shipping 
which  enters  that  channel.  There  are 
ten  vessels  to-day  passing  in  and  out 
to  one  in  J  880.  Another  twenty-five 
years  will  see  a  hundred  times  as  many. 
We  have  discovered  the  Orient,  and 
even  more,  the  Orient  has  discovered 
us.  We  may  not  rule  it  by  force  of 
arms;  for  that  counts  nothing  in  trade 
or  civilization.  Commerce  follows  the 
flag  only  when  the  flag  flies  on  mer- 
chant ships.  It  has  no  interest  in 
following  the  flag  to  see  a  fight.  Com- 
merce follows  fair  play  and  mutual 
service.  Through  the  centuries  of 
war  men  have  only  played  at  com- 
merce. The  Twentieth  Century  will 
take  it  seriously,  and  it  will  call  for 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


25 


men  to  do  its  work^  It  will  call  more 
loudly  than  war  has  ever  done,  but  it 
will  ask  its  men  not  to  die  bravely,  but 
to  live  wisely,  and  above  all  truthfully 
to  watch  their  accounts, 
d.  The  Twentieth  Century  will  find 
room  for  pure  science  as  well  as  for 
applied  science  and  ingenious  invention* 
Each  Helmholtz  of  the  future  will  give 
rise  to  a  thousand  Edisons.  Exact 
knowledge  must  precede  any  form  of 
applications.  The  reward  of  pure 
science  will  be,  in  the  future  as  in  the 
past,  of  its  own  kind,  not  fame  nor 
money,  but  the  joy  of  finding  truth. 
To  this  joy  no  favor  of  fortune  can 
add.  The  student  of  nature  in  all  the 
ages  has  taken  the  vow  of  poverty. 
To  him  money,  his  own  or  others, 
means  only  the  power  to  do  more  or 
better  work. 

€L  The  Twentieth  Century  will  have 
its  share  in  literature  and  art.  Most 
of  the  books  it  will  print  will  not  be 
literature,   for  idle  books    are   written 


Pure 
Science 


Literature 
and  Art 


26  THE  CALL  OF  THE 

for  idle  people,  and  many  idle  people 
are  left  over  from  less  insistent  times* 
The  books  sold  by  the  hundred  thou- 
sands to  men  and  women  not  trained 
to  make  time  count,  will  be  forgot- 
ten before  the  century  is  half  over* 
The  books  it  saves  will  be  books  of 
its  own  kind,  plain,  straightforward, 
clear-cut,  marked  by  that  ^'fanaticism 
for  veracity  ^^  which  means  everything 
else  that  is  good  in  the  intellectual  and 
moral  development  of  man.  The  lit- 
erature of  form  is  giving  way  already 
to  the  literature  of  power*  We  care 
less  and  less  for  the  surprises  and  scin- 
tillations of  clever  fellows;  we  care 
more  and  more  for  the  real  thoughts 
of  real  men*  We  find  that  the  deep- 
est thoughts  can  be  expressed  in  the 
simplest  language*  ^'A  straight  line 
is  the  shortest  distance  between  two 
points'^  in  literature  as  well  as  in 
mechanics*  '^  In  simplicity  is  strength,^^ 
as  Watt  said  of  machinery,  and  it  is 
true  in  art  as  well  as  in  mechanics* 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


27 


^  In  medicine,  the  field  of  action  is 
growing  infinitely  broader,  now  that 
its  training  is  securely  based  on  science, 
and  the  divining  rod  no  longer  stands 
first  among  its  implements  of  precision^ 
Not  long  ago,  it  is  said,  a  young  medi- 
cal student  in  New  York  committed 
suicide,  leaving  behind  this  touching 
sentence :  ^'  I  die  because  there  is  room 
for  no  more  doctors/^  And  this  just 
now,  when  for  the  first  time  it  is  worth 
while  to  be  a  doctor.  Room  for  no 
more  doctors,  no  doubt,  of  the  kind  to 
which  he  belonged  —  men  who  know 
nothing  and  care  nothing  for  science 
and  its  methods,  who  choose  the  medi- 
cal school  which  will  turn  them  loose 
most  quickly  and  cheaply,  who  have 
no  feeling  for  their  patients,  and  whose 
prescriptions  are  given  with  no  more 
conscience  than  goes  into  the  fabrica- 
tion of  an  electric  belt  or  the  compound- 
ing of  a  patent  medicine.  Room  for 
no  more  doctors  whose  highest  con- 
ception is  to  look  wise,  take  his  chances. 


Medicine 


28  THE  CALL  OF  THE 


and  pocket  the  fee*  Room  for  no  more 
doctors  just  now,  when  the  knowledge 
of  human  anatomy  and  physiology  has 
shown  the  way  to  a  thousand  uses 
of  preventive  surgery*  Room  for  no 
more  doctors,  when  the  knowledge  of 
the  microbes  and  their  germs  has  given 
the  hope  of  successful  warfare  against 
all  contagious  diseases;  room  for  no 
more  doctors,  when  antiseptics  and  an- 
aesthetics have  proved  their  value  in 
a  thousand  pain-saving  ways.  Room 
for  no  more  doctors  now,  when  the 
doctor  must  be  an  honest  man,  with 
a  sound  knowledge  of  the  human  body 
and  a  mastery  of  the  methods  of  the 
sciences  on  which  this  knowledge  de- 
pends* Room  for  no  more  doctors  of 
the  incompetent  class,  because  the  wiser 
times  demand  a  better  service. 
€1,  What  is  true  in  medicine  applies  also 
to  the  profession  of  law.  The  petti- 
fogger must  give  place  to  the  jurist. 
The  law  is  not  a  device  for  getting 
around  the  statutes.    It  is  the  science 


Law 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  29 

and  art  of  equity^  The  lawyers  of 
the  future  will  not  be  mere  pleaders 
before  juries*  They  will  save  their 
clients  from  need  of  judge  or  jury*  In 
every  civilized  nation  the  lawyers  must 
be  the  law-givers.  The  sword  has 
given  place  to  the  green  bag.  The  de- 
mands of  the  Twentieth  Century  will 
be  that  the  statutes  coincide  with  equity. 
This  condition  educated  lawyers  can 
bring  about.  To  know  equity  is  to  be 
its  defender. 

CLIi^  politics  the  demand  for  serious  Politics 
service  must  grow.  As  we  have  to  do 
with  wise  and  clean  men,  statesmen, 
instead  of  vote-manipulators,  we  shall 
feel  more  and  more  the  need  for  them. 
We  shall  demand  not  only  men  who 
can  lead  in  action,  but  men  who  can 
prevent  unwise  action.  Often  the  policy 
which  seems  most  attractive  to  the  ma- 
jority is  full  of  danger  for  the  future. 
We  need  men  who  can  face  popular 
opinion,  and,  if  need  be,  to  face  it  down. 
The  best  citizen  is  one  not  afraid  to 


30 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Temporary 
Evils 


Journalism 


cast  his  vote  away  by  voting  with  the 
minority^ 

€L  As  we  look  at  it  in  the  rough,  the  po- 
litical outlook  of  democracy  often  seems 
discouraging^  A  great,  rich,  busy  na- 
tion cannot  stop  to  see  who  grabs  its 
pennies^  We  are  plundered  by  the  rich, 
we  are  robbed  by  the  poor,  and  trusts 
and  unions  play  the  tyrant  over  both. 
But  all  these  evils  are  temporary.  The 
men  that  have  solved  greater  problems 
in  the  past  will  not  be  balked  by  these. 
Whatever  is  won  for  the  cause  of  equity 
and  decency  is  never  lost  again.  **  Eter- 
nal vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty,^^  and 
in  this  Twentieth  Century  there  are 
always  plenty  who  are  awake.  One  by 
one  political  reforms  take  their  place  on 
our  statute  books,  and  each  one  comes 
to  stay. 

€L  In  all  this,  the  journalist  of  the  future 
may  find  an  honorable  place.  He  will 
learn  to  temper  enterprise  with  justice, 
audacity  with  fidelity,  omniscience  with 
truthfulness.     When  he  does  this  he 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


31 


will  become  a  natural  leader  of  men  be- 
cause he  will  be  their  real  servants  To 
mould  public  opinion,  to  furnish  a  truth- 
ful picture  of  the  times  from  day  to  day, 
either  of  these  ideals  in  journalism  gives 
ample  room  for  the  play  of  the  highest 
manly  energy. 

CThe  need  of  the  teacher  will  not  Teaching 
grow  less  as  the  century  goes  on.  The 
history  of  the  future  is  written  in  the 
schools  of  to-day,  and  the  reform  which 
gives  us  better  schools  is  the  greatest  of 
reforms.  It  is  said  that  the  teacher's 
noblest  work  is  to  lead  the  child  to  his 
inheritance.  This  is  the  inheritance  he 
would  win;  the  truth  that  men  have 
tested  in  the  past,  and  the  means  by 
which  they  were  led  to  know  that  it  was 
truth.  '*'  Free  should  the  scholar  be  — 
free  and  brave/'  and  to  such  as  these 
the  Twentieth  Century  will  bring  the 
reward  of  the  scholar. 

€LThe  Twentieth  Century  will  need        Religion 
its  preachers  and  leaders   in  religion. 
Some  say,  idly,  that  religion  is  losing 


32  THE  CALL  OF  THE 


her  hold  in  these  strenuous  days»  But 
she  is  not.  She  is  simply  changing  her 
grip.  The  religion  of  this  century  will 
be  more  practical,  more  real  It  will 
deal  with  the  days  of  the  week  as 
well  as  with  the  Sabbath.  It  will  be 
as  patent  in  the  marts  of  trade  as  in  the 
walls  of  a  cathedral,  for  a  man^s  religion 
is  his  working  hypothesis  of  life,  not  of 
life  in  some  future  world,  but  of  life  right 
here  to-day,  the  only  day  we  have  in 
which  to  build  a  life.  It  will  not  look 
backward  exclusively  to  **  a  dead  fact 
stranded  on  the  shore  of  the  oblivious 
years,^'  nor  will  its  rewards  be  found 
alone  in  the  life  to  come.  The  world  of 
to-day  will  not  be  a  ^Wale  of  tears'^ 
through  which  sinful  men  are  to  walk 
unhappily  toward  final  reward.  It  will 
be  a  world  of  light  and  color  and  joy, 
a  world  in  which  each  of  us  may  have 
a  noble  though  a  humble  part,  —  the 
work  of  the  ^'holy  life  of  action.'^  It 
will  find  religion  in  love  and  wisdom 
and  virtue,  not  in  bloodless  asceticism. 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


33 


philosophical  disputation,  the  mainte- 
nance of  withered  creeds,  the  cultivation 
of  fruitless  emotion,  or  the  recrudes- 
cence of  forms  from  which  the  life  has 
gone  out^  It  is  possible,  Thoreau  tells 
us,  for  us  to  ^'  walk  in  hallowed  cathe- 
drals,^^ and  this  in  our  every-day  lives 
of  profession  or  trade^  It  is  the  loyalty 
to  duty,  the  love  of  God  through  the 
love  of  men,  which  may  transform  the 
workshop  to  a  cathedral,  and  the  life  of 
to-day  may  be  divine  none  the  less  be- 
cause it  is  strenuous  and  complex*  It 
may  be  all  the  more  so  because  it  is 
democratic,  even  the  Sabbath  and  its 
duties  being  no  longer  exalted  above 
the  other  holy  days* 
4XWhat  sort  of  men  does  the  century 
need  for  all  this  work  it  has  to  do?  We 
may  be  sure  that  it  will  choose  its  own, 
and  those  who  cannot  serve  it  will  be 
cast  aside  unpityingly*  Those  it  can 
use  it  will  pay  generously,  each  after 
its  kind,  some  with  money,  some  with 
fame,  some  with  the  sense  of  power, 

3 


The  Men 
of  the 
Century 


34 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


The 
Useless 


Youth  and 
Energy 


some  with  the  joy  of  service*  Some 
will  work  hard  in  spite  of  vast  wealth, 
some  only  after  taking  the  vow  of 
poverty* 

€L  Those  not  needed  you  can  find  any 
day*  They  lean  against  lamp-posts  in 
platoons,  they  crowd  the  saloons,  they 
stand  about  railway  stations  all  day 
long  to  see  trains  go  by*  They  dally 
on  the  lounges  of  fashionable  clubs* 
They  may  be  had  tied  in  bundles  by 
the  employers  of  menial  labor*  Their 
women  work  at  the  wash-tubs,  and 
crowd  the  sweat  shops  of  great  cities; 
or,  idle  rich,  they  may  dawdle  in  the 
various  ways  in  which  men  and  wo- 
men dispose  of  time,  yielding  nothing 
in  return  for  it*  You,  whom  the  cen- 
tury wants,  belong  to  none  of  these 
classes*  Yours  must  be  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  strenuous,  complex,  democratic* 
C  A  young  man  is  a  mighty  reservoir 
of  unused  power*  **  Give  me  health  and 
a  day  and  I  will  put  the  pomp  of  em- 
perors to  shame*'^    If  I  save  my  strength 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


35 


and  make  the  most  of  it,  there  is  scarcely 
a  limit  to  what  I  may  do*  The  right 
kind  of  men  using  their  strength  rightly^ 
far  outrun  their  own  ambitions,  not  as 
to  wealth  and  fame  and  position,  but 
as  to  actual  accomplishment.  **  I  never 
dreamed  that  I  should  do  so  much/^ 
is  the  frequent  saying  of  a  successful 
man;  for  all  men  are  ready  to  help  him 
who  throws   his   whole   soul  into  the 


service* 

C^Men  of  training  the  century  must 
demand.  It  is  impossible  to  drop  into 
greatness.  **  There  is  always  room  at 
the  top/^  so  the  Chicago  merchant  said 
to  his  son,  **  but  the  elevator  is  not  run- 
ning/^ You  must  walk  up  the  stairs 
on  your  own  feet.  It  is  as  easy  to  do 
great  things  as  small,  if  you  only  know 
how.  The  only  way  to  learn  to  do 
great  things  is  to  do  small  things  well, 
patiently,  loyally.  If  your  ambitions 
run  high,  it  will  take  a  long  time  in 
preparation.  There  is  no  hurry.  No 
wise  man  begrudges  any  of  the  time 


The 

Value  of 
Training 


36 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Unsteadi- 
ness of 
Purpose 


A  College 
Education 


spent  in  the  preparation  for  life,  so  long 
as  it  is  actually  making  ready* 
^  **  Profligacy/'  says  Emerson,  '*  con- 
sists not  in  spending,  but  in  spending  off 
the  line  of  your  career*  The  crime 
which  bankrupts  men  and  nations  is 
that  of  turning  aside  from  one's  main 
purpose  to  serve  a  job  here  and  there/' 
^  The  value  of  the  college  training  of  to- 
day cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized* 
You  cannot  save  time  nor  money  by 
omitting  it,  whatever  the  profession  on 
which  you  enter.  The  college  is  be- 
coming a  part  of  life.  For  a  long  time 
the  American  college  was  swayed  by 
the  traditions  of  the  English  aristocracy* 
Its  purpose  was  to  certify  to  a  man's 
personal  culture*  The  young  man  was 
sent  to  college  that  he  might  be  a  member 
of  a  gentler  caste*  His  degree  was  his 
badge  that  in  his  youth  he  had  done  the 
proper  thing  for  a  gentleman  to  do^  It 
attested  not  that  he  was  wise  or  good  or 
competent  to  serve,  but  that  he  was 
bred  a    gentleman  among  gentlemen* 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  37 


So  long  as  the  title  of  academic  bachelor 
had  this  significance,  the  man  of  action 
passed  it  by.  It  had  no  meaning  to  him, 
and  the  fine  edge  of  accuracy  in  thought 
and  perception,  which  only  the  college 
can  give,  was  wanting  in  his  work. 
The  college  education  did  not  seem  to 
disclose  the  secret  of  power,  and  the 
man  of  affairs  would  have  none  of  it. 
C  A  higher  ideal  came  from  Germany,  Personal 
—  that  of  erudition.  The  German  f"!"'^^"- 
scholar  knows  some  one  thing  thor- 
oughly. He  may  be  rude  or  uncultured, 
he  may  not  know  how  to  use  his  knowl- 
edge, but  whatever  this  knowlege  is,  it 
is  sound  and  genuine.  Thoroughness 
of  knowledge  gives  the  scholar  self-re- 
spect ;  it  makes  possible  a  broad  horizon 
and  clear  perspective.  From  these 
sources,  English  and  German,  the 
American  University  is  developing  its 
own  essential  idea,  —  that  of  personal 
effectiveness.  The  American  Univer- 
sity of  to-day  seeks  neither  culture  nor 
erudition  as  its   final  end.     It  values 


ness 


38 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


both  as  means  to  greater  ends»  It  looks 
forward  to  work  in  life*  Its  triumphs 
in  these  regards  the  century  will  see 
clearly.  It  will  value  culture  and  treas- 
ure erudition,  but  it  will  use  both  as 
helps  toward  doing  things*  It  will  find 
its  inspiration  in  the  needs  of  the  world 
as  it  is,  and  it  is  through  such  effort 
that  the  world  that  is  to  be  shall  be 
made  a  reality*  A  great  work  demands 
full  preparation*  It  takes  larger  pro- 
vision for  a  cruise  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  than  for  a  trip  to  the  Isle  of  Dogs* 
For  this  reason  the  century  will  ask  its 
men  to  take  a  college  education* 
CL  It  will  ask  much  more  than  that,  — 
a  college  education  where  the  work  is 
done  in  earnest,  students  and  teachers 
realizing  its  serious  value,  and  besides 
all  this,  it  will  demand  the  best  special 
training  which  its  best  universities  can 
give*  For  the  Twentieth  Century  will 
not  be  satisfied  with  the  universities  of 
the  fifteenth  or  seventeenth  centuries* 
It  will  create  its  own,  and  the  young 


The 

Serious- 
ness of 
University 
Work 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


39 


man  who  does  the  century^s  work  will 
be  a  product  of  its  university  system^  Of 
this  we  may  be  sure,  the  training  for 
strenuous  life  is  not  in  academic  idleness. 
The  development  of  living  ideals  is  not 
in  an  atmosphere  of  cynicism^  The 
blase,  lukewarm,  fin-de-siecle  young 
man  of  the  clubs  will  not  represent  uni- 
versity culture,  nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
will  culture  be  dominated  by  a  cheap 
utilitarianism* 

<I^^^You  will  hear  every  day  around 
you,'^  said  Emerson  to  the  divinity 
students  of  Harvard,  ^^  the  maxims  of  a 
low  prudence.  You  will  hear  that  your 
first  duty  is  to  get  land  and  money, 
place  and  fame.  ^What  is  this  truth 
you  seek  ?  What  is  this  beauty  ?  ^  men 
will  ask  in  derision.  K,  nevertheless, 
God  have  called  any  of  you  to  explain 
truth  and  beauty,  be  bold,  be  firm,  be 
true.  When  you  shall  say,  ^As  others 
do,  so  will  I ;  I  renounce,  I  am  sorry  for 
it — my  early  visions;  I  must  eat  the 
good  of  the  land,  and  let  learning  and  ro- 


A  Mes- 
sage from 
Emerson 


40 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Clear 
Thought 
and  Firm 
Resolution 


mantic  speculations  go  until  some  more 
favorable  season/  then  dies  the  man  in 
you ;  then  once  more  perish  the  buds  of 
art  and  poetry  and  science,  as  they  have 
died  already  in  a  hundred  thousand 
men*  The  hour  of  that  choice  is  the 
crisis  in  your  history/^ 
€L  The  age  will  demand  steady  headed 
men,  men  whose  feet  stand  on  the 
ground,  men  who  can  see  things  as 
they  really  are,  and  act  accordingly* 
**  The  resolute  facing  of  the  world  as 
it  is,  with  all  the  garments  of  make- 
believe  thrown  off,'^  —  this,  according 
to  Huxley,  is  the  sole  cure  for  the  evils 
which  beset  men  and  nations*  The 
only  philosophy  of  life  is  that  derived 
from  its  science*  We  know  right  from 
wrong  because  the  destruction  is  plain 
in  human  experience*  Right  action 
brings  abundance  of  life*  Wrong  ac- 
tion brings  narrowness,  decay,  and 
degeneration*  A  man  must  have  prin-' 
ciples  of  life  above  all  questions  of  the 
mere  opportunities  of  to-day,  but  these 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  4J 

principles  are  themselves  derived  from 
experience.  They  belong  to  the  higher 
opportunism,  the  consideration  of  what 
is  best  in  the  long  run*  The  man  who  is 
controlled  by  an  arbitrary  system  with- 
out reference  to  conditions,  is  ineffec- 
tive*  He  becomes  a  crank,  a  fanatic, 
a  man  whose  aims  are  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  results.  This  is  because  he 
is  dealing  with  an  imaginary  world, 
not  with  the  world  as  it  is.  We  may 
admire  the  valiant  knight  who  displays 
a  noble  chivalry  in  fighting  wind-mills, 
but  we  do  not  call  on  a  wind-mill 
warrior  when  we  have  some  plain, 
real  work  to  accomplish.  All  prog- 
ress, large  or  small,  is  the  resultant 
of  many  forces.  We  cannot  single 
out  any  one  of  these  as  of  dominant 
value,  and  ignore  or  despise  the  others. 
In  moving  through  the  solar  system, 
the  earth  is  falling  toward  the  sun  as 
well  as  flying  away  from  it.  In  human 
society,  egoism  is  coexistent  with  al- 
truism, competition  with   co-operation, 


42 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


mutual  struggle  with  mutual  aid.  Each 
is  as  old  as  the  other  and  each  as  im- 
portant; for  the  one  could  not  exist 
without  the  other.  Not  in  air-built 
Utopias,  but  in  flesh  and  blood,  wood 
and  stone  and  iron,  will  the  movement 
of  humanity  find  its  realization. 
Gambling  ^  Don^t  count  on  gambling  as  a  means 
of  success.  Gambling  rests  on  the  de- 
sire to  get  something  for  nothing.  So 
does  burglary  and  larceny.  **  The  love 
of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil.^'  This 
was  said  long  ago,  and  it  is  not  exactly 
what  the  wise  man  meant.  He  was 
speaking  of  unearned  money.  Money 
is  power,  and  to  save  up  power  is 
thrift.  On  thrift  civilization  is  builded. 
The  root  of  all  evil  is  the  desire  to  get 
money  without  earning  it.  To  get 
something  for  nothing  demoralizes  all 
effort*  The  man  who  gets  a  windfall 
spends  his  days  watching  the  wind. 
The  man  who  wins  in  a  lottery  buys 
more  lottery  tickets.  Whoever  receives 
bad  money,  soon  throws  good  money 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


43 


after  bad.  He  will  throw  that  of  others 
when  his  own  is  gone.  No  firm  or 
corporation  is  rich  enough  to  afford  to 
keep  gamblers  as  clerks^ 

H  The  age  will  demand  men  of  good  vulgarity 
taste  who  care  for  the  best  they  know. 
Vulgarity  is  satisfaction  with  mean 
things.  That  is  vulgar  which  is  poor 
of  its  kind.  There  is  a  kind  of  music 
called  rag-time,  —  vulgar  music,  with 
catchy  tunes  —  catchy  to  those  who  do 
not  know  nor  care  for  things  better. 
There  are  men  satisfied  with  rag-time 
music,  with  rag-time  theatres,  with 
rag-time  politics,  rag-time  knowledge, 
rag-time  religion.  ^^It  was  my  duty 
to  have  loved  the  highest.^^  The  high- 
est of  one  man  may  be  low  for  another, 
but  no  one  can  afford  to  look  down- 
ward for  his  enjoyments.  The  cor- 
rosion of  vulgarity  spreads  everywhere. 
Its  poison  enters  every  home.  The  bill- 
boards of  our  cities  bear  evidence  to  it ; 
our  newspapers  reek  with  it,  our  story 
books  are  filled  with  it;    we  cannot 


44 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


keep  it  out  of  our  churches  or  our  col- 
leges.  The  man  who  succeeds  must 
shun  vulgarity^  To  be  satisfied  with 
poor  things  in  one  line  will  tarnish  his 
ideals  in  the  direction  of  his  best  efforts* 
One  great  source  of  failure  in  life  is 
satisfaction  with  mean  things*  It  is 
easier  to  be  almost  right  than  to  be 
right*  It  is  less  trying  to  wish  than  to 
do*  There  are  many  things  that  glit- 
ter as  well  as  gold  and  which  can  be 
had  more  cheaply*  Illusion  is  always 
in  the  market  and  can  be  had  on  easy 
terms*  Realities  do  not  lie  on  the  bar- 
gain counters*  Happiness  is  based  on 
reality*  It  must  be  earned  before  we 
can  come  into  its  possession* 
<L  Happiness  is  not  a  state*  It  is  the 
accompaniment  of  action*  It  comes 
from  the  exercise  of  natural  functions^ 
from  doing,  thinking,  planning,  fight- 
ing, overcoming,  loving*  It  is  positive 
and  strengthening*  It  is  the  signal ''  all 
is  well,'^  passed  from  one  nerve  cell  to 
another*     It  does  not  burn   out   as  it 


True 
Happiness 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  45 

glows*  It  makes  room  for  more  hap- 
piness*  Loving,  too,  is  a  positive  word* 
It  is  related  to  happiness  as  an  impulse 
to  action*  The  love  that  does  not  work 
itself  out  in  helping  acts  as  mere  torture 
of  the  mind*  The  primal  impulse  of 
vice  and  sin  is  a  short  cut  to  happiness* 
It  promises  pleasure  without  earning  it* 
And  this  pleasure  is  always  an  illusion. 
Its  final  legacy  is  weakness  and  pain* 
Pain  is  not  a  punishment,  but  a  warn- 
ing of  harm  done  to  the  body*  The 
unearned  pleasures  provoke  this  warn- 
ing* They  leave  a  '^  dark  brown  taste 
in  the  mouth.^^  Their  recollection  is 
'^  different  in  the  morning*^'  Such  pleas- 
ures, Robert  Burns  who  had  tried 
many  of  them  says,  are  'Mike  poppies 
spread,^'  or  **  like  the  snow-falls  on  the 
river*^*  But  it  is  not  true  that  they  pass 
and  leave  no  trace*  Their  touch  is 
blasting*  But  true  happiness  leaves  no 
reaction*  To  do  strengthens  a  man  for 
more  doing;  to  love  makes  room  for 
more  loving* 


46 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Obscenity 


Profanity 


€L  The  second  power  of  vulgarity  is 
obscenity,  and  this  vice  is  like  the  pesti- 
lence^  All  inane  vulgarity  tends  to  be- 
come obscene.  From  obscenity  rather 
than  drink  comes  the  helplessness  of  the 
ordinary  tramp. 

€L  Another  form  of  vulgarity  is  pro- 
fanity. The  habit  of  swearing  is  not  a 
mark  of  manliness.  It  is  the  sign  of  a 
dull,  coarse,  unrefined  nature,  a  lack  of 
verbal  initiative.  Sometimes,  perhaps, 
profanity  seems  picturesque  and  effec- 
tive. I  have  known  it  so  in  Arizona 
once  or  twice,  in  old  Mexico  and  per- 
haps in  Wyoming,  but  never  in  the 
home,  or  the  street,  or  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  life.  It  is  not  that  blasphemy 
is  offensive  to  God.  He  is  used  to  it, 
perhaps,  for  he  has  met  it  under  many 
conditions.  But  it  is  offensive  to  man, 
insulting  to  the  atmosphere,  and  de- 
structive of  him  who  uses  it.  Profanity 
and  bluster  are  not  signs  of  courage. 
The  bravest  men  are  quiet  of  speech 
and  modest  in  demeanor. 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


47 


C  The  man  who  is  successful  will  not 
be  a  dreamer.  He  will  have  but  one 
dream  and  that  will  work  itself  out  as  a 
purpose.  Dreaming  wanes  into  senti- 
mentalism,  and  sentimentalism  is  fatal 
to  action.  The  man  of  purpose  says 
no  to  all  lesser  calls,  all  minor  oppor- 
tunities. He  does  not  abandon  his  col- 
lege education  because  a  hundred  dollar 
position  is  offered  him  outside.  He  does 
not  turn  from  one  profession  because 
there  is  money  in  another.  He  has  his 
claim  staked  out,  and  with  time  he  will 
only  fill  in  the  detail  of  its  boundaries. 
C  **  Now  that  you  are  through  college, 
what  are  you  going  to  do?^^  asked  a 
friend  of  a  wise  young  man. 
C  ^^I  shall  study  medicine/^  was  the 
grave  reply. 

^  **  But  is  n't  that  profession  already 
overcrowded  ?  '^  asked  the  friend. 
fL  ''  Possibly  it  is/'  said  the  youth, ''  but 
I  purpose  to  study  medicine  all  the  same. 
Those  who  are  already  in  the  profession 
must  take  their  chances.'' 


Not  to 
Dream, 
but  to  Do 


A  Wise 

Young 

Man 


48 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


The 
Crowd 


Ambition 


"  Let  Him 
Pass  " 


Success 
Always 


^  In  this  joke  of  the  newspapers  there 
is  a  sound  philosophy*  Men  of  pur- 
pose never  overcrowd.  The  crowd  is 
around  the  foot  of  the  staircase  waiting 
for  the  elevator. 

^  The  old  traveller,  Rafinesque,  tells 
us  that  when  he  was  a  boy  he  read  the 
voyages  of  Captain  Cook,  Le  Vaillant, 
Pallas,  and  Bougainville,  and  **  my  soul 
was  fired  to  be  a  great  traveller  like 
them,  and  so  I  became  such,^'  he  adds 
shortly. 

4IL  If  you  say  to  yourself :  ^'  I  will  be  a 
traveller,  a  statesman,  an  engineer;^' 
if  you  never  unsay  it ;  if  you  bend  all 
your  powers  in  that  direction;  if  you 
take  advantage  of  all  helps  that  come  in 
your  way  and  reject  all  that  do  not,  you 
will  sometime  reach  your  goal.  For 
the  world  turns  aside  to  let  any  man 
pass  who  knows  whither  he  is  going. 
H  *^  Why  should  we  call  ourselves 
men,''  said  Mirabeau,  ^^  unless  it  be  to 
succeed  in  everything,  everywhere.  Say 
of  nothing :   ^  This  is  beneath  me,'  nor 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


49 


feel  that  anything  is  beyond  your  power, 
for  nothing  is  impossible  to  the  man  who 
can  will/^ 

C  Do  not  say  that  I  am  expecting  too 
much  of  the  effects  of  a  firm  resolution, 
that  I  give  advice  which  would  lead  to 
failure*  For  the  man  who  will  fail  will 
never  take  a  resolution.  Those  among 
you  whom  fate  has  cut  out  to  be  no- 
bodies are  the  ones  who  will  never  try ! 
<t  Even  harmless  pleasures  hurt  if  they 
win  you  from  your  purpose.  Lorimer's 
old  merchant  writes  to  his  son  at  Har- 
vard: ^^You  will  meet  fools  enough 
in  the  day  without  hunting  up  the  main 
herd  at  night /^  This  plain  business 
man*s  advice  is  worth  every  young 
man's  attention. 

<L  The  Twentieth  Century  will  ask  for 
men  of  instant  decision,  men  whose 
mental  equipment  is  all  in  order,  ready 
to  be  used  on  the  instant.  Yes  and  no, 
right  and  wrong,  we  must  have  them 
labelled  and  ready  to  pack  to  go  any- 
where, to  do  anything  at  any  time,  or  to 

4 


The  Result 
Sure 


Plain 
Advice 


Instant 
Service 


50 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Hopeful- 
ness 


To-Day 


know  why  we  refuse  to  do  it,  if  it  is 
something  we  will  not  do^  Ethelred  the 
Unready  died  helpless  a  thousand  years 
ago*  The  unready  are  still  with  us,  but 
the  strenuous  century  will  grant  them 
but  short  shift* 

CL  The  man  of  the  Twentieth  Century 
will  be  a  hopeful  man*  He  will  love 
the  world  and  the  world  will  love  him. 
*^  There  is  no  hope  for  you/'  Thoreau 
once  said,  ^*  unless  this  bit  of  sod  under 
your  feet  is  the  sweetest  for  you  in  the 
world  —  in  any  world/'  The  effective 
man  takes  his  reward  as  he  goes  along. 
Nowhere  is  the  sky  so  blue,  the  grass 
so  green,  the  opportunities  so  choice  as 
now,  here,  to-day,  the  time,  the  place 
where  his  work  must  be  done. 
C  ^^  To-day  is  your  day  and  mine/'  I 
have  said  on  another  occasion;  ^'  the  only 
day  we  have,  the  day  in  which  we  play 
our  part ;  what  our  part  may  signify  in 
the  great  whole  we  may  not  understand, 
but  we  are  here  to  play  it,  and  now  is 
the  time.    This  we  know :  it  is  a  part 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


51 


of  action,  not  of  whining^  It  is  a  part 
of  love,  not  cynicism.  It  is  for  us  to 
express  love  in  terms  of  human 
helpfulness/^ 

C  Whatever  feeling  is  worthy  and  real 
will  express  itself  in  action,  and  the  glow 
that  surrounds  worthy  action  we  call 
happiness. 

<L  He  will  be  a  loyal  man,  considering 
always  the  best  interests  of  him  he 
serves,  ready  to  lay  down  his  life,  if 
need  be,  for  duty,  ready  to  abandon 
whatever  conflicts  with  higher  loyalty, 
with  higher  duty. 

^  In  the  economic  struggles  of  to-day, 
well-meaning  men  are  making  two 
huge  mistakes,  which  in  time  wiU  undo 
whatever  of  good  their  efforts  may  ac- 
complish. One  of  these  is  the  struggle 
against  education,  the  effort  to  limit 
the  number  of  skilled  laborers,  and  this 
in  a  free  country  where  each  man^s 
birthright  is  the  development  of  his 
skill.  The  other  is  the  effort  to  destroy 
the  feeling  of  personal  loyalty  on  the 


Activity 

and 

Happiness 


Loyalty 


Two 
Great 

Mistakes 


52 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


part  of  the  laborer*  Half  the  value  of 
any  man^s  service  lies  in  his  willingness, 
his  devotion  to  the  man  or  the  work. 
This  old-fashioned  virtue  of  loyalty 
must  not  be  cheapened*  The  man 
whose  service  is  worth  paying  for,  gives 
more  than  his  labor.  He  believes  that 
what  he  does  is  right,  and  when  any- 
thing goes  wrong  he  will  turn  in  and 
make  it  right.  In  the  long  run  the 
laborer  can  get  no  more  than  he  de- 
serves, and  disloyal  labor  is  paving  the 
way  for  its  own  subjugation.  Unwil- 
ling service  is  a  form  of  slavery,  and 
unwilling  employment  is  a  slavery  of 
the  employer. 

^  More  than  all  this,  the  man  in  the 
Twentieth  Century  needs  must  be  a 
man  of  character*  It  was  said  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  that  he  was  a  man 
^^too  simply  great  to  scheme  for  his 
proper  self.^^  The  man  who  schemes 
for  his  own  advancement  soon  forfeits 
the  support  of  others.  He  may  lay 
pipes  and  pull  wires,  seeming  for  a  little 


Character 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  53 

to  succeeds  ''God  consents,  but  only 
for  a  time/^  Sooner  or  later,  if  he  lives 
to  meet  his  fate,  he  finds  his  end  in  utter 
failure.  And  this  failure  is  final;  for 
those  who  have  suffered  will  not  help 
him  again.  Even  rats  desert  a  sinking 
ship.  To  be  successful  a  man  need 
take  no  heed  for  his  own  particular 
future.  He  will  find  his  place  in  the 
future  of  his  work. 
^  In  the  ordinary  business  of  life  the  Honesty 
smart  man  has  had  his  day.  He  gives 
place  to  the  man  who  can  bring  about  Policy 
results.  Whatever  the  present  menace 
of  trust  and  monoply,  the  business  of 
the  future  must  be  conducted  on  large 
lines.  The  profits  of  the  future  will  be 
the  legitimate  reward  of  economy,  or- 
ganization, and  boldness  of  conception. 
To  this  end  absolute  honesty  is  essen- 
tial to  success.  The  merchant  selling 
poor  goods  at  high  prices,  an  article 
which  looks  as  good  as  the  real  thing 
but  is  something  else,  must  give  place 
to  a  larger  system,  with  specialized  ser- 


54 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


vice  on  a  basis  of  absolute  truthfulness. 
Business  of  a  large  scale  must  finally 
demand  publicity  and  equity.  Sooner 
or  later  even  monopolies  must  grant 
this,  whether  we  insist  on  it  by  statute 
or  not.  It  is  necessary  for  their  own 
protection;  for  large  structures  cannot 
long  stand  on  insecure  foundations.  In 
the  long  run  trade  is  honest ;  for  dishon- 
est trade  cuts  its  own  throat. 
(L  Above  all,  because  including  all,  the 
century  will  ask  for  men  of  sober  mind. 
The  finest  piece  of  mechanism  in  all  the 
universe  is  the  brain  of  man  and  the 
mind  which  is  its  manifestation.  What 
mind  is,  or  how  it  is  related  to  brain 
cells,  we  cannot  say,  but  this  we  know, 
that  as  the  brain  is,  so  is  the  mind; 
whatever  injury  comes  to  the  one  is 
shown  in  the  other.  In  this  complex 
structure,  with  its  millions  of  connecting 
cells,  we  are  able  to  form  images  of  the 
external  world,  truthful  so  far  as  they 
go,  to  retain  these  images,  to  compare 
them,  to  infer  relations  of  cause  and 


Moral 
and 

Physical 
Vice 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


55 


effect,  to  induce  thought  from  sensation, 
and  to  translate  thought  into  action*  In 
proportion  to  the  exactness  of  these  op- 
erations is  the  soundness,  the  effective- 
ness of  the  man.  The  man  is  the 
mind,  and  everything  else  is  accessory* 
The  sober  man  is  the  one  who  protects 
his  brain  from  all  that  would  do  it 
harm.  Vice  is  our  name  for  self-in- 
flicted injury,  and  the  purpose  of  vice  is 
to  secure  a  temporary  feeling  of  pleasure 
through  injury  to  the  brain.  Real  hap- 
piness does  not  come  through  vice.  You 
will  know  that  which  is  genuine  because 
it  makes  room  for  more  happiness.  The 
pleasures  of  vice  are  mere  illusions, 
tricks  of  the  nervous  system,  and  each 
time  these  tricks  are  played  it  is  more 
and  more  difficult  for  the  mind  to  tell  the 
truth.  Such  deceptions  come  through 
drunkenness  and  narcotism.  In  greater 
or  less  degree  all  nerve-affecting  drugs 
produce  it;  alcohol,  nicotine,  caffeine, 
opium,  cocaine,  and  the  rest,  strong  or 
weak.     Habitual  use  of  any  of  these  is 


56 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


The 

Functions 
of  the 
Brain 


a  physical  vice*  A  physical  vice  be- 
comes a  moral  vice,  and  all  vice  leaves 
its  record  on  the  nervous  system*  To 
cultivate  vice  is  to  render  the  actual 
machinery  of  our  mind  incapable  of 
normal  action* 

Cl  It  is  the  brain's  business  to  perceive, 
to  think,  to  will,  to  act.  All  these  func- 
tions taken  together  we  call  the  mind* 
The  brain  is  hidden  in  darkness,  shel- 
tered within  a  box  of  bone*  All  that  it 
knows  comes  to  it  from  the  nerves  of 
sense*  All  that  it  can  do  in  this  world 
is  to  act  on  the  muscles  it  controls 
through  its  nerves  of  motion*  The 
final  purpose  of  knowledge  is  action* 
Our  senses  tell  us  what  lies  about  us, 
that  we  may  move  and  act,  and  do  this 
wisely  and  safely*  The  sense-organs 
are  the  brain's  only  teachers  so  far  as 
we  know,  the  muscles  are  its  only  ser- 
vants* But  there  are  many  orders  which 
may  be  issued  to  these  servants*  Out  of 
the  many  sensations,  memories,  imagi- 
nations, how  shall  the  brain  choose? 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  57 


The  power  of  attention  fixes  the  mind 
on  those  sensations  or  impressions  of 
most  worth,  pushing  the  others  into  the 
background  Past  impressions,  memory- 
pictures,  linger  in  the  brain,  and  these, 
bidden  or  unbidden,  crowd  with  the 
others.  To  know  the  relation  of  all 
these,  to  distinguish  present  impressions 
from  memories,  realities  from  dreams, — 
this  is  mental  sanity.  The  sane  brain 
performs  its  appointed  task.  The  mind 
is  clear,  the  will  is  strong,  the  attention 
persistent,  and  all  is  well  in  the  world. 
But  the  machinery  of  the  brain  may  fail. 
The  mind  grows  confused.  It  mistakes 
memories  for  realities.  It  loses  the  power 
of  attention,  A  fixed  idea  may  take  pos- 
session of  it,  or  it  may  be  filled  by  a 
thousand  vagrant  impressions,  wander- 
ing memories,  in  as  many  seconds.  In 
this  case  the  response  of  the  muscles  be- 
comes uncertain.  The  acts  are  governed 
not  by  the  demands  of  external  condi- 
tions but  by  internal  whims.  This  is 
a  condition  of  mania  or  mental  irrespon- 


58  THE  CALL  OF  THE 

sibility.  Some  phase  of  mental  un- 
soundness is  produced  by  any  of  the 
drugs  which  affect  the  nerves,  whether 
stimulants  or  narcotics^  They  may 
help  to  borrow  from  our  future  store  of 
energy,  but  they  borrow  at  compound 
interest  and  never  repay  the  loan.  They 
give  an  impression  of  joy,  of  rest,  of  ac- 
tivity, without  giving  the  fact ;  one  and 
all,  their  function  is  to  force  the  nervous 
system  to  lie.  Each  indulgence  in  any 
of  them  makes  it  harder  to  tell  the  truth. 
One  and  all,  their  supposed  pleasures 
are  followed  by  reactions,  subjective 
pains  as  unreal  as  the  joys  which  they 
follow.  Each  of  them,  if  used  persist- 
ently, brings  incapacity,  insanity,  and 
death.  With  each  of  them  use  creates 
appetite.  To  yield  once  it  is  easier  to 
yield  again.  The  harm  of  some  of 
them  is  slight.  Tea,  coffee,  beer,  claret, 
in  moderate  quantities,  do  but  moderate 
harm,  but  all  of  them  are  without  other 
effect  on  the  nerves  save  to  work  them 
injury.     White  lies  at  the  best  are  false- 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


59 


hoods.  These  are  the  white  lies  of 
physiology.  In  regard  to  each  of  these, 
the  young  man  must  count  the  cost. 
Count  all  the  cost  and  be  prepared  to 
pay.  The  song  of  Ulrich  von  Htitten, 
when  he  gave  his  life  for  religious  free- 
dom, is  worth  applying  to  all  other 
costly  things.     He  sang:  — 

^  *  Ich  habe  gewagft  mh  Sinnen 
Und  tragfe  des  noch  kein  Reu.^  ^' 

**  With  open  eyes  have  I  dared  it,  and 
cherish  no  regret.^^ 

€L  For  all  indulgence  in  wine  and  coffee 
and  tobacco  you  will  have  a  bill  to  pay. 
Perhaps  not  a  heavy  bill.  The  indul- 
gence may  be  worth  the  while,  but  if 
so,  find  out  for  yourself  beforehand 
whether  others  have  found  it  so.  If 
you  dare,  dare  with  open  eyes  and  cher- 
ish no  regrets.  For  regret  is  the  most 
profitless  thing  to  cherish.  There  is 
nothing  more  distressing  than  remorse 
without  will.  The  only  hope  in  the 
world  is  to  stop,  and  by  the  time  that 


The  Cost 

of 

Indulgence 


60 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


One  Kind 
of  Joy 


Real 
Pleasures 


The 
Point  of 
View 


the  inebriate  comes  to  realize  where  he 
is^  it  is  too  late  to  stop. 
€L  ^' There  is  joy  in  life/^  says  Sulli- 
van, the  pugilist,  '^  but  it  is  known  only 
to  the  man  who  has  a  few  jolts  of  liquor 
under  his  belt/^  To  know  this  kind  of 
joy  is  to  put  one^s  self  beyond  the  reach 
of  all  others. 

€L  The  joy  of  the  blue  sky,  the  bright 
sunshine,  the  rushing  torrent,  the  songs 
of  birds,  ^*  sweet  as  children's  prattle  is,'' 
the  breath  of  the  meadows,  the  glow  of 
effort,  the  beauty  of  poetry,  the  achieve- 
ment of  thought,  the  thousand  and  thou- 
sand real  pleasures  of  life,  are  inaccessible 
to  him  ^' who  has  a  few  jolts  of  liquor 
under  his  belt,"  while  the  sorrows  he 
feels,  or  thinks  he  feels,  are  as  unreal  as 
his  joys,  and  as  unworthy  of  a  life 
worth  living. 

€L  There  was  once,  I  am  told,  a  man 
who  came  into  his  office  smacking  his 
lips,  and  said  to  his  clerk,  **  The  world 
looks  very  different  to  the  man  who  has 
had  a  good  glass  of  brandy  and  soda  in 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  61 


the  morning/'  ^^Yes/'  said  the  clerk^ 
'^and  the  man  looks  different  to  the 
world/' 

€L  And  this  is  natural  and  inevitable^ 
for  the  pleasure  which  exists  only  in  the 
imagination  leads  to  action  which  has 
likewise  nothing  to  do  with  the  demands 
of  life*  The  mind  is  confused,  and 
may  be  delighted  with  the  confusion, 
but  the  confused  muscles  tremble  and 
halt.  The  tongue  is  loosened  and  ut- 
ters unfinished  sentences;  the  hand  is 
loosened  and  the  handwriting  is  shaky ; 
the  muscles  of  the  eyes  are  unharnessed, 
and  the  two  eyes  move  independently 
and  see  double;  the  legs  are  loosened,  and 
the  confusion  of  the  brain  shows  itself 
in  the  confused  walk.  And  if  this  con- 
fusion is  long  continued,  the  mental 
deterioration  shows  itself  in  external 
things,  — the  shabby  hat  and  seedy  cloth- 
ing, and  the  gradual  drop  of  the  man 
from  stratum  to  stratum  of  society,  till 
he  brings  up  some  night  in  the  ditch. 
As  the  world  looks  more  and  more 


Rapid 
Deteriora- 
tion 


62 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


Total 
Abstinence 


different  to  him,  so  does  he  look  more 
and  more  different  to  the  world* 
CA  prominent  lawyer  of  Boston  once 
told  me  that  the  great  impulse  to  total 
abstinence  came  to  him  when  a  young 
man,  from  hearing  his  fellow  lawyers 
talking  over  their  cups*  The  most  vital 
secrets  of  their  clients^  business  were 
made  public  property  when  their  tongues 
were  loosened  by  wine;  and  this  led 
him  to  the  firm  resolution  that  nothing 
should  go  into  his  mouth  which  would 
prevent  him  from  keeping  it  closed  un- 
less he  wanted  to  open  it*  The  time 
will  come  when  the  only  opening  for 
the  ambitious  man  of  intemperate  habits 
will  be  in  politics*  It  is  rapidly  becom- 
ing so  now*  Private  employers  dare 
not  trust  their  business  to  the  man  who 
drinks*  The  great  corporations  dare 
not*  He  is  not  wanted  on  the  railroads* 
The  steamship  lines  have  long  since 
cast  him  off*  The  banks  dare  not  use 
him*  He  cannot  keep  accounts*  Only 
the  people,  long-suffering  and  generous, 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


63 


remain  as  his  resource*  For  this  rea- 
son municipal  government  is  his  spe- 
cialty; and  while  this  patience  of  the 
people  lasts^  our  cities  will  breed  scandals 
as  naturally  as  our  swamps  breed  ma- 
laria* Already  the  business  of  the  cen- 
tury recognizes  the  truth  of  all  this*  The 
bonding  companies  ask,  before  they  sign 
a  contract,  whether  the  official  in  question 
uses  liquor,  what  kind  of  liquor,  whether 
he  smokes,  gambles,  or  in  other  ways 
so  conducts  himself  that  in  five  years  he 
will  be  less  of  a  man  than  he  is  now* 
CL  The  great  corporations  ask  the  same 
questions  as  to  all  their  employees*  Even 
these  organizations  called  '^  soulless  ^^ 
know  the  value  of  men,  and  that  the 
vices  of  to-day  must  be  reckoned  at 
compound  interest  and  charged  against 
their  estimate  of  the  young  man^s  future* 
The  Twentieth  Century  must  be  tem- 
perate; for  only  sober  men  can  bear  the 
strain  of  its  enterprises* 
C  Equally  dangerous  is  the  search  for 
the  joys  of  love  by  those  who  would 


Great 
Corpora- 
tions and 
their 
Employees 


True  Love 
and  False 


64 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


shirk  all  lovers  responsibilities.  Just  as 
honest  love  is  the  most  powerful  influ- 
ence that  can  enter  into  a  man's  life,  so 
is  love's  counterfeit  the  most  disintegrat- 
ing.  Happiness  cannot  spring  from  the 
ashes  of  lust.  Love  looks  toward  the 
future.  Its  glory  is  its  altruism.  To 
shirk  responsibility  is  to  destroy  the 
home.  The  equal  marriage  demands 
equal  purity  of  heart,  equal  chastity  of 
intention.  Open  vice  brings  with  cer- 
tainty disease  and  degradation.  Secret 
lust  comes  to  the  same  end,  but  all  the 
more  surely  because  the  folly  of  lying  is 
added  to  other  sources  of  decay.  That 
society  is  so  severe  in  its  condemnation 
of  ^'the  double  life''  is  an  expression  of 
the  bitterness  of  its  experience*  The 
real  character  of  a  man  is  measured  by 
the  truth  he  shows  to  women.  His 
ideal  of  womankind  is  gauged  by  the 
character  of  the  woman  he  seeks. 
Weakness  ^  In  general,  the  sinner  is  not  the  man 
o^D^^^l-  who  sets  out  in  life  to  be  wicked.  Few 
dation  men  are  born  wicked ;  many  are  bom 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


65 


weak.      False    ideas    of     manliness; 

false   conceptions   of    good    fellowship^ 

which  false  ideas  of  the  relationship  of 

men  and  women  givCf  wreck  many  a 

young  man  of  otherwise  good  intentions. 

The  sinner  is  the  man  who  cannot  say 

no.     The  fall  through  vice  to  sin  is  a 

matter  of  slow  transition.     One  virtue 

after  another  is  yielded  up  as  the  strain 

on  the  will  becomes  too  great.     In  Kip- 

ling^s  fable  of  Parenness,   the   demon 

appears  before  the  clerk  in  the  Indian 

service,  who  has  been  too  long  a  good 

fellow  among  the  boys.     It  asks  him  to 

surrender  three  things  in  succession :  his 

trust  in  man,  his  faith  in  woman,  then 

the  hopes  and  ambitions  of  his  childhood. 

When  these  are  given  up,  as  they  must 

be  in  the  life  of  dissipation,  the  demon 

leaves  him  in  exchange  a  little  crust  of 

dry  bread.     Bare  existence  without  joy 

or  hope  is  all  that  the  demon  can  give 

when  the  forces  of  life  are  burned  out. 

CL  In  our  colleges,  the  one  ethical  prin-      Keeping  in 

dple  kept  before  the  athlete  by  his  asso-      draining 

5 


66  THE  CALL  OF  THE 

dates  is  this:  Never  break  training 
rules.  The  pitcher  who  smokes  a  cig- 
arette throws  away  his  game.  The 
punter  who  spends  the  night  at  a  dance 
loses  his  one  chance  of  making  a  goaL 
The  sprinter  who  takes  the  glass  of 
convivial  beer  breaks  no  record*  His 
record  breaks  him.  Some  day  we  shall 
realize  that  the  game  of  life  is  more  than 
the  game  of  foot-balL  We  have  work 
every  day  more  intricate  than  pitching 
curves,  more  strenuous  than  punting  the 
ball.  We  must  keep  in  trim  for  it. 
We  must  hold  ourselves  in  repair.  We 
must  remember  training  rules.  When 
this  is  done,  we  shall  win  not  only  games 
and  races,  but  the  great  prizes  of  life. 
Almost  half  the  strength  of  the  men  of 
America  is  now  wasted  in  dissipation, 
gross  or  petty,  in  drink  or  smoke. 
This  strength  would  be  saved  could  we 
remember  training  rules.  Through  the 
training  rules  of  our  fathers  we  have 
come  to  consider  as  part  of  our  in- 
heritance the  Puritan  Conscience.    As 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


67 


An 

Example 
from  Life 


the  success  of  our  nation  is  built  upon 
this  conscience,  so  in  like  fashion  de- 
pends upon  it  the  success  of  our  daily 
life. 

CI  had  a  friend  once,  a  mining  man  of 
some  education,  who  made  his  fortune 
in  bonanza  days  in  Nevada,  and  who 
drank  up  what  he  had  made  with  the 
boys  who  have  long  since  passed  away* 
As  a  hopeless  sot  he  visited  the  gold 
cure  at  Los  Gatos*  Not  finding  much 
relief,  he  walked  over  to  Palo  Alto  to 
borrow  of  me  his  fare  to  San  Francisco. 
He  said  that  he  was  going  to  pawn  his 
goods  for  a  fare  to  Nevada,  where  he 
meant  to  kill  himself.  Whether  he  did  so 
or  not,  I  do  not  know ;  for  ten  years 
have  gone  by  and  I  have  never  heard 
of  him  again. 

<lAs  he  sat  in  my  room,  haggard, 
bloodshot,  ragged,  gin-flavored,  a  little 
boy  who  had  then  never  known  sin, 
came  in,  and  being  no  respecter  of 
persons,  took  him  for  a  man  and  offered 
him  his  hand. 


The 
Confidence 
of  a  Child 


68 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


A 

Moment's 

Awakening 


T!ie 

Iniquity  of 
the  Fathers 


CL  Being  taken  for  a  man,  brought  him 
back  his  manhood  for  a  moment*  The 
visions  of  evil  left  him,  and  from 
Dickens^  poem  of  '^  The  Children  ^*  he 
repeated  almost  to  himself  these 
words :  — 

**  *  I  know  now  how  Jesus  could  Iikcn 
The  Kingdom  of  God  to  a  child/  ** 

The  old  scene  came  back  to  him. 
When  the  Master  was  teaching,  the 
children  crowded  about  him,  and  there 
were  those  who  would  send  them  away. 
But  the  Master  said, ''  No,  let  the  little 
children  come  unto  me,  and  do  not  for- 
bid them;  for  of  such  is  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven/^  And  again  he  said,  **  The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  within  you/^ 
And  again  those  whose  services  the 
Lord  of  the  centuries  could  use,  he 
likened  to  little  children. 
C^  And  of  the  many  ways  in  which  this 
likeness  can  be  used  this  is  one.  The 
child  is  born  with  brain  and  nervous 
system  adequate  to  its  many  purposes  in 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


69 


life,  if  it  is  suffered  to  grow  naturally, 
to  become  what  God  meant  it  to  be* 
There  are  not  many  children  of  sin  not 
made  so  by  vice,  intemperance,  lust,  and 
obscenity*  They  are  victims  of  their 
elders^  folly,  of  our  carelessness  as  to 
their  environment*  Half  the  troubles  of 
men  of  our  race  come  through  self-in- 
flicted injury  to  the  nervous  system* 
We  are  tormented  by  the  **  fooI-killer*^^ 
K  we  could  revert  to  the  child^s  simple 
purity,  the  free  movement  of  its  ma- 
chinery of  life,  we  should  find  ourselves 
in  a  new  heaven  on  a  new  earth*  We 
could  understand  for  ourselves  part  of 
what  the  Master  meant*  We  should 
know  now  how  Jesus  could  liken  the 
Kingdom  of  God  to  a  child* 
€L  All  forms  of  subjective  enjoyment, 
all  pleasures  that  begin  and  end  with 
self,  unrelated  to  external  things,  are 
insane  and  unwholesome,  destructive 
alike  to  rational  enjoyment  and  to  effec- 
tiveness in  life*  And  this  is  true  of 
spurious   emotions   alike,  whether  the 


Subjective 
Enjoyment 


70 


THE  CALL  OF  THE 


The 

Mental 

Attitude 


A  Living 
Truth 


An  Appeal 
to  Young 
Men 


pious  ecstasies  of  a  half-starved  monk, 
the  neurotic  imaginings  of  a  sentimental 
woman,  or  the  riots  of  a  debauchee* 
He  is  the  wise  man  who  for  all  his 
life  can  keep  mind  and  soul  and  body- 
clean* 

€L  ^^  I  know  of  no  more  encouraging 
fact/'  says  Thoreau,  ^*  than  the  ability 
of  a  man  to  elevate  his  life  by  conscious 
endeavor*  It  is  something  to  paint  a 
particular  picture,  or  to  carve  a  statue, 
and  so  make  a  few  objects  beautiful* 
It  is  far  more  glorious  to  carve  and 
paint  the  very  atmosphere  and  medium 
through  which  we  look*  This  morally 
we  can  do*'' 

CL  If  it  were  ever  my  fortune  in  speak- 
ing to  young  men  to  become  eloquent, 
with  the  only  real  eloquence  there  is, 
the  plain  speaking  of  a  living  truth,  this 
I  would  say :  — 

€L  Your  first  duty  in  life  is  toward  your 
afterself *  So  live  that  your  afterself  — 
the  man  you  ought  to  be  —  may  in  his 
time  be  possible  and  actual*     Far  away 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  71 


in  the  twenties,  the  thirties,  of  the  Twen- 
tieth Century  he  is  awaiting  his  turn. 
His  body,  his  brain,  his  soul  are  in  your 
boyish  hands.  He  cannot  help  himself. 
What  will  you  leave  for  him  ?  Will  it 
be  a  brain  unspoiled  by  lust  or  dissipa- 
tion, a  mind  trained  to  think  and  act,  a 
nervous  system  true  as  a  dial  in  its  re- 
sponse to  the  truth  about  you?  Will 
you,  boy  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  let 
him  come  as  a  man  among  men  in  his 
time,  or  will  you  throw  away  his  in- 
heritance before  he  has  had  the  chance 
to  touch  it?  Will  you  turn  over  to  him 
a  brain  distorted,  a  mind  diseased,  a 
will  untrained  to  action,  a  spinal  cord  . 
grown  through  and  through  with  the 
devil  grass  of  that  vile  harvest  we  call 
wild  oats?  Will  you  let  him  come, 
taking  your  place,  gaining  through  your 
experiences,  hallowed  through  your  joys, 
building  on  them  his  own,  or  will  you 
fling  his  hope  away,  decreeing  wanton- 
like that  the  man  you  might  have  been 
shall  never  be  ? 


Lesson 


74  THE  CALL  OF  THE 

A  Bit  of  fL  Whittier  tells  us  the  story  of  the  day 
History  .^  Connecticut  in  1780^  when  the  horror 
of  great  darkness  came  over  the  land, 
and  all  men  believed  that  the  dreaded 
Day  of  Judgment  had  come  at  last* 
and  its  ^  T7he  legislature  of  Connecticut,  ^Mim 
as  ghosts'^  in  the  old  State  House, 
wished  to  adjourn  to  put  themselves  in 
condition  for  the  great  assizes*  Mean- 
while Abraham  Davenport,  representa- 
tive from  Stamford,  rose  to  say :  — 

**  *  This  well  may  be 
The  Day  of  Judgment   which  the  world 

awaits ; 
But  be  it  so  or  not,  I  only  know 
My  present  duty  and  my  Lord's  command 
To  occupy  till  He  come* 
So  at  the  post  where  He  hath  set  me  in  His 

Providence 
I  choose  for  one  to  meet  Him  face  to  face. 
Let  God  do  His  work.  Wc  will  see  to  ours.' '' 

Then  he  took  up  a  discussion  of  an  act 
relating  to  the  fisheries  of  alewife  and 
shad,  speaking  to  men  who  found  them 
obliged  to  stand  by  their  duty,  though 


TWENTIETH  CENTURY  75 

never  expecting  to  see  shad,  or  alewife, 
or  even  Connecticut  again. 

^  Glad  did  I  live  and  gladly  die, 
And  I  lay  me  down  with  a  will.^ 

This  was  Stevenson's  word.  *^  Let  God 
do  His  work;  we  will  see  to  ours/' 
And  in  whatever  part  of  God's  King- 
dom we  men  of  the  Twentieth  Century 
may  find  ourselves,  we  shall  know  that 
we  are  at  home.  For  the  same  hand 
that  made  the  world  and  the  ages 
created  also  the  men  in  whose  hands 
the  final  outcome  of  the  wayward  cen- 
turies finds  its  place  within  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven. 


14  DAY  USE 

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